Just when you think you've seen it all...

[Bernadette]

You get surprised. I received a web inquiry from a girl that bought a gel candle at a craft fair. It's her favorite but her cat knocked it on the floor and the glass broke. She asked me if I could remake it for her. When she sent me the pictures of it, I couldn't stop looking at it. It has metal elephants in it, standing on red aquarium rocks and the red glass beads we all use in gel candles, BUT there's a votive cup in it that's completely submerged under gel, with the wick extended way out of the votive holder to reach the surface of the entire candle gel. Hope I explained that adequately... To better understand, the overall height of the candle is 5", the votive holder stands 2 1/2".

I see this as an unsafe candle and a limited use candle. Once the gel burns to the votive holder, and starts burning the gel in the votive cup, don't you think the heat from the wick is going to melt gel from the overall candle gel into the cup, drowning out the wick? And how would you ever clean wax residue out of the votive cup since it's 2 1/2" below the top of the overall candle gel without making a big mess?

It's amazing to me that candles of this quality are still being sold...:tiptoe:

[doglover]

Holy Smokes!!! Looks like 2010 is not much better than 2009! I had a customer ask me to make a candle in two pieces (like tall pillars) each that would be put together to burn as one. However, each candle was to have its own wick. In order for the flame to be as one when the candles were put together, the wick had to be positioned at the very edge of each candle. Talk about unsafe! After researching this, I found a patent pending on a candle of this sort. SCARY!!!!!

[Bernadette]

Well...I made up a couple of test candles - one with a wick all the way into the votive cup, but wicked for the entire candle; and another wicked for the diameter of the votive cup, but wicked all the way to the top. I want to know how this works. In the first case, I believe it will burn for the 5" overall candle diameter until it gets to the votive cup, and then either smoke like crazy, crack the votive glass, or go out for lack of fuel(since there is not enough gel in the votive for the wick size)or all three. In the second candle, I'm guessing the wick will tunnel badly to the votive cup, then will drown out from gel melting above the votive cup(too much fuel for the wick size). We shall see...:tiptoe:

Edited January 2, 2010 by Bernadette

[MikeyMikeisMe]

If I understand it correctly (and maybe I don't), I think this method is used to allow some of the gel candle to burn while preserving the scene below it. I made one similar to this style, at least based on how I understand your description. I took a fishbowl type container, added some sand & seashells at the bottom, and poured in some light blue gel to give an "ocean" appearance. As the gel set up some I embedded a non-flammable, hard plastic fish. At this point, the gel was set enough that I was able to add a small glass votive container that would reach flush to the top of the larger container. I added a wick, and poured the rest of the gel around and in the votive. My goal was to allow the recipient of my gift to burn the candle and get some of the scent without destroying the scene below. I figured all that would burn would be the center part, in actuality about 50-60% of the diameter of the fish bowl, thereby allowing her to melt & add some more blue gel to re-create the scene later.

This was a going-away present so I don't know how it turned out, but I don't see any reason why it would be unsafe or difficult to remove the votive cup because it's right there at the top.

[Bernadette]

If I understand it correctly (and maybe I don't), I think this method is used to allow some of the gel candle to burn while preserving the scene below it. I made one similar to this style, at least based on how I understand your description. I took a fishbowl type container, added some sand & seashells at the bottom, and poured in some light blue gel to give an "ocean" appearance. As the gel set up some I embedded a non-flammable, hard plastic fish. At this point, the gel was set enough that I was able to add a small glass votive container that would reach flush to the top of the larger container. I added a wick, and poured the rest of the gel around and in the votive. My goal was to allow the recipient of my gift to burn the candle and get some of the scent without destroying the scene below. I figured all that would burn would be the center part, in actuality about 50-60% of the diameter of the fish bowl, thereby allowing her to melt & add some more blue gel to re-create the scene later.

This was a going-away present so I don't know how it turned out, but I don't see any reason why it would be unsafe or difficult to remove the votive cup because it's right there at the top.

What you are describing is a forever candle and is totally safe. What I was hopefully describing was a candle where the votive holder was "buried" in the gel. It was on the bottom of the candle, wicked, with the entire candle above it. There was no reason for it being there. It should have been much higher - flush with the top. :tiptoe: